Kłysz, Piotr2017-01-032017-01-032009Badania Fizjograficzne, Seria A, Tom 60, 2009, s. 33-42978-83-7654-057-30067-2807http://hdl.handle.net/10593/17147Tourism can be defined differently. The World Tourist Organization defines tourism as activities of people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited". Tourism in Poland dates back to the beginnings of the previous millennium. One of the earliest and well documented tourist trips in Poland was that made by Beata Łaska with her servants to the Tatra Mountains in 1563. The first rafting on the Dunajec River was organized in 1839. The foundations for the Polish tourism were laid by many persons, representatives of different social groups, among them Stanisław Staszic, Mieczysław Karłowicz, Tytus Chałubiński, Wincenty Pol, Oskar Kolberg, Stefan Żeromski. Towarzystwo Tatrzańskie (The Tatra Society), established in 1873 ( 1872?) is considered the first Polish tourist and sight-seeing organization. In the following years many tourist organizations were founded in different regions of Poland, among them the Polskie Towarzystwo Krajoznawcze (The Polish Sight-Seeing Society), Akademicki Klub Turystyczny (Academic Tourist Club), Poznańskie Towarzystwo Turystyczne (Poznań Tourist Society), Liga Popierania Turystyki (Tourist Support League). The largest tourist organization in Poland is Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczno-Krajoznawcze (The Polish Tourist and Sight-Seeing Society), which was reestablished in 1950. Its main mission is promotion of tourism and sight-seeing, expression of love for one's home country through trips and travels around it, protection of historical monuments and nature (Photo 1-3). There were many organizations and enterprises, which organized tourist, activities as part of their regular operations. Although they were not perfect, they laid solid foundations for the present-day tourism.polinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessArtykuł